1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the pick-up and delivery of items, and particularly relates to the attempted pick-up of items such as parcels (a.k.a. “packages”) from a shipper by a delivery service provider (hereinafter “delivery service”), for delivery to an intended recipient (a.k.a. “consignee”).
2. Description of Related Art
The pick-up of parcels and other items from a shipper and delivery of the parcels and other items to the residence or other location of intended recipients is known in the art. In many instances, when a parcel is undeliverable, a “delivery notice” is left at the particular location, and the intended recipient then has the opportunity to contact the delivery service (e.g., UPS) via telephone or the Internet and arrange to have the package(s) redelivered, held at a local operation center, redirected, or returned. However, no such parallel system exists for items that are to be picked-up by the delivery service but such pick-up is prevented or impeded in some manner.
Presently, if a shipper has left unattended items to be picked-up by a delivery service and such items are not picked up, the shipper may have no means for knowing the reason the items were not retrieved by the delivery service or even whether the delivery service attempted pick-up. Furthermore, once items have been picked up, there is no mechanism that identifies all the items picked up at a location. If provided with a package tracking number, a shipper may have to access shipping records about each individual package picked up at a specific location by the delivery service.
Furthermore, if a shipper has left unattended items for shipment at a location and such items are found later to be missing, there is no assurance that the items have been properly retrieved by the delivery service or whether the items have been dealt a more insidious fate. A shipper may have to contact the carrier to determine if all the packages have been picked up or individually contact each intended recipient to find out if they received their parcel(s). As may be understood, such activities are labor intensive.
In light of the foregoing, it may be seen that there is a need in the art to provide an improved method for providing package or other item pick-up that is less labor intensive than the methods described above and that addresses deficiencies in the art, some of which are described above